Bell pull

In Company shocked at a Lady getting up to Ring the Bell (1805), James Gillray caricatured suitors eager to save a lady the effort of using a bell pull.
A Bell pull and bell in a BEST bus in Mumbai, India.

A bell pull is a woven textile, pull cord, handle, knob, or other object that connects with a bell or bell wire, and which rings a bell when pulled. Bell pulls are used to summon workers in homes of people who have butlers, maids or other servants,[1][2] and often have a tassel at the bottom.[3] The bell pull is one element of a complex interior mechanical network which typically in Victorian times involved a range of bell pulls in different rooms; moreover, these bell connections link to a central bank of bells in a room where servants would await commands.[2]

Central bell panel

In the 19th century some hotels used to have a panel with a bell for each room as a centralized bell system.[2]

Transport

A bell pull is also used in some forms of public transport, mostly buses to signal to the bus driver to stop the bus.[4]

See also

References

  1. "Englishmen's Dining Rooms". New York Times. 2 September 1894. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 Larry Nash White; Emily Blankenship White (February 2004). Marietta. Arcadia Publishing. pp. 34–. ISBN 978-0-7385-3231-8. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
  3. "New London Millinery". Poverty Bay Herald. 18 November 1911. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
  4. SULZBERGER, A.G (12 May 2009). "Is This Your Stop? Pull the Cord, Like Old Times". New York Times. New York. Retrieved May 9, 2015.
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